“……”

It’s a child I’ve never seen before.

Perhaps his memory had been erased by Cognitive Distortion Magic, but his features, except for his eyes, appeared blurry.

But I know who he is.

There’s no way I wouldn’t know who would say such words to Marco Schreiber.

‘A child, how unexpected.’

Now, it was my turn to step forward, not Marco’s. I asked, looking at his eyes, which shone brilliantly even in a world blurred by light.

“Your name?”

“It’s Abraham.”

[Blood?]

“Yes, Abraham. It’s nice to meet you.”

[If I just give blood….]

It felt like my throat was burning dry. It was Marco’s sensation.

[He said I can make amends for everything. How? Can he even turn back time?]

Marco swallowed hard. His vision shimmered intensely, matching his accelerated heartbeat.

[If only I could go back 5 years and stop the train to Lorraine, I would…

No, I don’t even wish for that much.

If only the family I created with my Magic Power could just return.

So if only we could live together like before….]

When I closed and opened my eyes, the scene had changed.

A ceiling with the lights off was visible. Turning my head, I saw my blood-soaked right arm. The child, with blood around his mouth, rolled his yellow eyes and looked at me.

I smiled and said.

“You’re quite clumsy.”

“……”

Having two selves share this body must look quite insane, but I have to say what I need to say. Because I have to dig out what Marco knows about Abraham.

The child wiped the blood from his hand with a towel and replied.

“Because when you’re young, there are many things you can’t get.”

“Then why did you enter a child’s body? Well, I suppose you didn’t have a choice either.”

The yellow eyes turned towards me.

He seemed not to know the answer.

If Marco doesn’t know, there’s a limit to what I can find out from his imagination.

But he does know.

He just can’t recall it immediately; the 10 years he spent with Abraham must remain in his unconscious. Just like the professors who were captured by the prosecution reacted to warp coordinates.

When I stopped asking questions, the child opened his mouth.

“Only the final stage remains.”

“……”

“Do you wish for your children to live and breathe in this world?”

Marco did not answer. He just stared blankly into the air.

At that moment, everything faded away with a faint laugh.

“How touching.”

It was the last thing I heard.

This is the process by which Abraham gave Marco the revelation.

I was now in darkness.

Occasionally, there were times when I would open my eyes, and those were times when I had to be given a sleeping pill according to Abraham’s will. During the day, he had to take the medicine and sleep, and from evening until dawn, he had to lend his body to Abraham.

He didn’t know what Abraham was doing, and even after sacrificing the remaining 50 years of his life, he couldn’t even meet his children who were reborn.

If it were me, I would have tried to kill Abraham, but Marco was different.

[The traces of my children that that yellow-eyed child brings me. I was satisfied with that.

My children were reborn, returning to their early 20s 10 years ago, living well with others in the world of those who were reborn like them, and spending time in perfect peace.

Knowing this alone was enough.]

It’s an illness. At this point.

Thinking that, I stopped walking in the darkness.

Kwaaaang—!

I slammed the floor with the Magic Power-laden Staff.

As expected, the space did not break. That would be the case. Because Marco Schreiber didn’t become a zombie state due to Vitriol.

Instead of attacking further, I looked at the sky and opened my mouth.

“Are you satisfied?”

[……]

“Let’s talk.”

No answer was heard, but I continued speaking on my own.

“Your children must respect you very much.”

[……]

“A parent who gives up their life for the lives of their children… Could an ordinary human give up 50 years of life and their self to save others? At least I cannot do that. Nor do I want to.”

There was still no reaction in this space. It was time to keep talking.

“I haven’t had an experience like yours. I am not in a position to carelessly say I can understand you. I don’t have the ability to fully understand you, and while I can admire a love that goes beyond my scope, I cannot know what it is.”

I have no intention of committing such arrogance.

My initial thought, guessing that with time I would empathize with Marco’s emotions and then his foreign-language-like words would be properly audible, was wrong.

When the death of his children became almost certain and he began to show signs of delusion, I could understand nothing except the sound of a departing train playing in reverse.

He wished that the train to Lorraine, which his children took 5 years ago, would return. I know that, but that’s it. The depth and extent of that emotion were beyond my range of comprehension.

“I just came to ask if this is what you truly wanted, Marco. Are you satisfied?”

The scene before my eyes changed.

It was a cafe terrace I had never seen before.

Turning my gaze, which had been fixed on the lake outside the terrace, I saw another Marco Schreiber sitting across from me at a round table.

[This is the last place I came with my children all together, and it’s just as it was. The scenery here is truly wonderful.]

It would be the same. It’s just a memory.

[I am satisfied. I couldn’t be more satisfied than this.]

“Regrets?”

[None.]

Marco before me looked truly peaceful.

Abraham chose a truly good subject. He is a person who perfectly fits his purpose.

“You have no regrets even if Abraham does unimaginable things with your body?”

[That has nothing to do with me.]

As long as my children were revived, that’s enough, is it?

Yes. That’s like the person in the memory just now.

“How are your children doing? Tell me a little about it too.”

[Ah, the children, you mean. They’re studying. They’re majoring in industrial magic at our proud Empire’s best university.]

I was speechless.

He… is living in a delusion right now.

He cannot distinguish between what is present and what is past.

It’s not simply because this place is his abyss.

He must have been like this ever since he was encroached upon by Abraham.

“Imperial First Academy?”

[Yes, you know it well. As you are also me, you know the eldest is the top student in the entire department. I guess it’s because he resembles me so much.]

“He would resemble you. He’s a human born from your Magic Power.”

[Hahaha! Yes. Our second one still doesn’t seem interested in studying and attends school leisurely, but do you know what he says? He says he doesn’t need honor or money, just to be able to live together forever, the three of us. Hahaha!]

“……”

[They’ve grown up well. This is enough. As long as they grow up kind, I don’t care what their grades are.]

Once he started talking, he kept bragging about his children even though I hadn’t asked.

[Actually, isn’t it usual for mages to have only one child? While it might not be the case for commoners, for us mage nobles, there are often troublesome matters. But my children have never given me any trouble. They are so considerate of each other, it makes me truly grateful just to watch them….]

“Your children were lucky to have such a father.”

[I was the lucky one. To get such angelic children.]

“……”

I smiled lightly and rolled the bottom of the teacup placed in front of me in a circle on the table.

“It’s a good answer, but it’s not the answer I wanted.”

“This is a story from when your children were attending university, Marco.”

“Just because the revived children’s faces returned to how they were 10 years ago doesn’t mean those children are attending university again.”

[Hmm?]

“Right now, your children have been reborn as Pleroma and are contributing to the advancement of the order.”

“Don’t you know how they’re doing?”

[…The children are attending university. The eldest will become a politician like me after graduating. The second one isn’t interested in studying yet….]

“No, Marco. That is not the present.”

When I interrupted him, the old man looked at me.

“You are continuously replaying memories that have already passed.”

“Let me tell you the reality.”

“Your children are not alive.”

He opened his mouth.

Soon after, he shook his head.

[…No, I made a promise with Abraham, didn’t I? The children are alive.]

“Although the body still breathes, they are no longer the same people they were before being reborn.”

“Do you know why?”

I clasped both my hands and leaned forward.

“Because that’s the Pleroma’s method.”

“Pleroma abruptly rewinds a person’s life, erasing all the time they’ve walked.”

“And they make them write a new life upon that as an auxiliary of the order.”

“They don’t hesitate to even touch their heads and inject their ideology arbitrarily.”

[……]

“Most likely, your children have completely forgotten their emotions and memories of you.”

“Because if they had them, instead of being loyal to the order, they would go looking for their father.”

The person sitting before me looked at me with empty eyes.

“That is the price of rebirth.”

“Instead of being resurrected, they have to dedicate everything about themselves to the order.”

“Do my words sound like a curse?”

At the faces of those who flashed by even when I tried not to remember, I took a breath and muttered.

“I’ve already seen such people.”

“I will never forget them.”

[…My children…]

“If your children were alive, they wouldn’t just stand by and watch something like a demon occupying their father’s body.”

[……]

“If they can’t even realize there’s a demon in their father’s body, pretending to be him, that too would be proof that those lovable children have now become different beings.”

[……]

“That’s why Abraham doesn’t show you your children directly.”

“Because they’ve become completely different people, to the point where it would be embarrassing to say ‘I kept the promise’.”

“Is it okay if they don’t remember you?”

“Your children are no longer the beings you remember.”

“They are different people with the same bodies.”

Tears flowed from Marco’s eyes.

[It’s okay.]

An unexpected answer.

I tried to suppress my emotions.

He spoke in a flat voice.

[It’s okay if they don’t remember me. As long as they are breathing in this world, that’s enough.]

“Wasn’t it your wish to form a happy family again?”

“Abraham made a contract to turn a living person into a corpse for the next 50 years, and he clearly told you he would ‘let you make up for everything’.”

[……]

“Your children will become murderers.”

“That is quite a distance from the children you remember.”

[Can my children become happy with that?]

“They can accumulate achievements, I suppose.”

“While they won’t have any moral concepts, there might be happiness derived from achievements.”

“But that is no longer an emotion felt by the person you knew.”

[That is enough.]

“……”

I shook my head.

“A parent’s heart is difficult to understand.”

“To lower one’s standards instead of retaliating even after being defrauded.”

This is possible because he still considers himself not defrauded concerning the most core aspect, ‘survival’.

But he is also human.

Pashak—

As if time were fast-forwarded, the garden’s color died, and the leaves hanging from the trees fell. The wind began to blow fiercely, making a strange sound.

Magic Power is shaking intensely. Cracks are appearing in the space.

But I cannot stop here.

“Marco.”

[……]

“I’m sorry, but you need to know this.”

“Abraham does not keep contracts.”

“In 10 years, your children will die once again.”

Kwaaaang—!

I raised my arm and blocked the wooden railing that flew from behind. As if something had happened in the sky, the wind shook the building with a tremendous roar.

Whispers that sounded as if his spirit was gone were heard.

[Die?]

“You are currently living in 1898, on the cusp of the 20th century, not 1887.”

“After Abraham entered your body, he went to Pleroma and revived your children.”

“Resurrection isn’t Abraham’s power, but Pleroma’s power, so that’s natural.”

“But you also know, don’t you?”

“That Abraham is now trying to break away from Pleroma and create a new religion.”

The sound of the wind grew fiercer and fiercer. The teacup rolled and fell.

I raised my voice.

“In this situation, if you were Pleroma, could you refrain from killing the children of that apostate?”

“Is there any reason not to reclaim the blessing given to the apostate’s children?”

[……]

Marco’s mouth slowly opened.

A terrible sense of emptiness could be felt in his features. His eyes lost their light.

[He surely gave me a chance to make amends….]

“In fact, didn’t you know it all along?”

Amidst this crazy wind, the sound of a departing train was heard from somewhere. Ignoring that delusion, I opened my mouth.

“That from the moment Abraham decided to become the leader of the order, your children’s fate became one of just waiting for death.”

Kwaaaang—!

The sound of wind that felt like it would burst my eardrums.

Everything turned black.

The strange cries completely dominated my brain. The wind was sweeping through the world as if aiming at me and trying to blow everything away.

I shouted amidst the massive storm that even buried my voice.

“The contract is over! Now you don’t agree to anything about Abraham.”

“Is there any need to show mercy to someone who broke a contract made with a life?”

To kill the Chairman, I must break the revelation, and to break the revelation, several conditions are required.

Firstly, Marco’s Mental Strength must become equal to or stronger than the Chairman’s Mental Strength.

A Mental Strength of -6 to at least +8.

It’s a daunting number, but moving from one extreme to another is easier than one might think. You just need to consider why he was forced to stay at that extreme.

The shocking fact of his family’s death tied his memories, his life, and his Mental Strength to that moment 10 years ago.

Therefore, there is a possibility.

If only he confronts the fact that ‘Abraham intends to kill his family again’, there is a possibility he can reach his limit.

And, secondly.

Marco must withdraw his consent.

Kwaang—!

I slammed the floor hard with my foot. The sound of the wind now began to sound like wailing.

I promise. This resolve I’ve spoken today will not change until my dying breath.

Muttering quickly, I changed Marco’s Wand into a Staff and slammed it onto the floor.

—These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.

A blinding light unfolded from below.

I came for this.

For the Chairman’s funeral.

The Chairman will never become the Chairman again. The life he has built over 10 years ends today, and the one whose life was stolen for 10 years will return to his original place.

“I will help you stop Abraham with your own strength.”

“So….”

A sound of great mourning is heard in Ramah. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more.

They were, and are no more.

The sound of the wind grew even fiercer. It was difficult to even stand properly, let alone open my eyes. I gripped the Staff tightly with both hands and straightened my body.

I stared at the darkness, which was crying out loud, and said.

“Say you do not consent, Marco.”

***

In the world you will have tribulation; but take heart, I have overcome the world.

I opened my eyes in the silence.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep